Gray, Allegra

I grew up in a creative family. Musicians, entrepreneurs, poets, you name it. I dabbled in all of it, and read books so avidly that I think my parents viewed the local bookstores and libraries as the equivalent of babysitters. Perhaps all those stories inspired a spirit of adventure, because at the age of seventeen I embarked on a career journey that has (so far) included serving as an officer in the U.S. Air Force, grad school at Virginia Tech, teaching English, and managing defense contracts in the Middle East. The best thing about this breadth of experience? When I tried my hand at actually...